Work
Sir Walter Raleigh duo (medium voice with bass clarinet)
by Gerald Glynn (1978, this version: 1980)
Score
Sir Walter Raleigh duo / Gerald Glynn.
Version: This product features the Medium Voice with cello version of this work
Library shelf no. 783.2542/GLY 1 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
This work is a setting of Raleigh's poem "A Description of Love", for medium voice or counter-tenor with cello accompaniment. The poem, dating from 1593, consists of five six-line stanzas, each beginning with "What is love? I pray thee say". The treatment of the text is relatively simple, but the writing for cello is much freer, even rhapsodic, and is inspired by the sarangi, the cello-like instrument of the North Indian tradition. The mood of the work is reflective, even elegaic, perhaps echoing the fact that for the poet, love was not just a happy frolic; he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for twelve years, long enough to write his History of the World, before being beheaded in 1618.
Work Details
Year: 1978, this version: 1980
Instrumentation: Medium voice or counter-tenor, bass clarinet.
First performance: by Janet Whitmore, David Smeyers — 16 May 81. Church of Saint Servatius, Cologne, Germany
Performances of this work
21 Jun 81: Eglise Saint-Pierre, Tonnerre, France. Featuring David Smeyers, Janet Whitmore.
19 Jun 81: British Institute in Paris. Featuring Janet Whitmore, David Smeyers.
16 May 81: Church of Saint Servatius, Cologne, Germany. Featuring Janet Whitmore, David Smeyers.
3 May 80: Geelong College, Geeolong, Victoria. Featuring Hartley Newnham, Susan Blake.
22 Jan 80: Australian Embassy, Paris. Featuring David Simpson, Hartley Newnham.
24 Jun 79: Church of Saint-Pierre, Tonnerre, France. Featuring David Simpson, Hartley Newnham.
17 Jun 79: Wigmore Hall, London. Featuring Hartley Newnham, Susan Blake.
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